I haven’t had much time to read lately, but I am enjoying Sarah Vowell’s Lafayette in the Somewhat United States. Sarah Vowell is one of my favorite non-fiction writers, though somehow I’ve never managed to write about her on this blog. If you don’t know her work, think of her as a comic writer about American history – think of her as a David Sedaris figure who writes about William McKinley and Cotton Mather and the Marquis de Lafayette instead of about her dysfunctional family. At some point in the early months of this blog, it occurred to me that what I wanted to do on PFP was to be the Sarah Vowell of books. I haven’t done much toward that goal as of yet, and overall I would say that this blog is less funny than it used to be – and maybe I should think about doing something about that. We’ll see.

If you think you would enjoy reading Vowell’s hilarious history books, I recommend that you start with The Wordy Shipmates or Assassination Vacation. This one is good so far too, but I’ve only read about thirty pages.

My sweater is coming along nicely – this is the very end of the first sleeve. I should have it done within a couple of weeks.

Vowell and Sedalia are actually friends. They both got their start at NPR, and the acknowledgements page in this book thanks Sedaris for hosting her when she took a research trip to France. They are definitely kindred spirits. I hope you enjoy the book(s)!